It
was RESOLVED that under section 100A(4) of the
Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item
of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure
of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to an
individual.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

12.

ENFORCEMENT UPDATE

To receive a verbal update regarding any
recent enforcement action.

During discussion of this item it may be necessary to pass the
following resolution to exclude the press and public having
reflected on Article 12 12.02(d) (a presumption in favour of
openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required
because consideration of this matter in public may disclose
information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt
information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The
Committee will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of
the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption,
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT – EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND
PUBLIC

RECOMMENDED that under section 100A(4) of the Local Government
Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on
the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt
information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of
the Act, namely information relating to an individual.

Minutes:

The
Lead Licensing Officer provided an update to Members regarding two
cases that had been investigated by the team, including one that
had resulted in the decision to refuse a licence by a Sub
Committee.

Following discussion of these items the meeting reopened to the
public.

The
Lead Licensing Officer provided the following update regarding
recent and current enforcement action:

·Since the last meeting of the Committee in July five
interviews had been held under caution, including;

·An allegation that one taxi driver had thrown a cup
of tea at another;

·A driver parking a private hire vehicle in a taxi
bay;

·Two operators operating without at MOT.

·Action taken in these cases included simple
cautions, no further action and one matter was pending.

·The Officer explained that six Sub Committee
hearings had been called in November, a number higher than in the
entire previous year.

·Two of the hearings had been due to licenced drivers
not submitting paperwork in good time, which resulted in warnings
being given and one hearing that had been held in
private.

·Since July the team had inspected 31 vehicles, 16 of
which were undertaken alongside the Police in multi-agency
work.

·In the same period 2 new Dog Boarding Premises
Licences had been issued and there were 5 new applications
pending.

When
asked why there had been such a spike in the number of hearings the
officer informed the Committee that the Licencing Team were being
more proactive in their approach.

The
Committee had before it a report* from the Director of Corporate
Affairs and Business Transformation regarding driving
qualifications for new and existing Hackney Carriage and Private
Hire Drivers. The Lead Licencing
Officer explained that Mid Devon District Council required all new
Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers to complete a Driving
Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Driver Assessment as part of the
application process. Existing drivers were sometimes required to
take this test if there had been concerns about their standard of
driving.

The
officer explained that the DVSA had recently notified the licensing
authority that this test would be withdrawn from 31 December 2016,
although it appeared from the relevant website that bookings could
no longer be made. As a result, the licensing authority needed to
research and establish suitable testing alternatives.

On behalf of a number of Councils, the Local
Government Association had raised concerns with the Department for
Transport over the short period of notice given for this decision.
It was initially hoped that this would lead to a temporary
extension of the existing qualification, however it did not look
like that would now be the case.

In order to ensure that the licensing
process could carry on with as little disruption as possible,
especially to new applicants, it was important that alternative
options were put in place as soon as possible

The
report suggested that, in the absence of a single recognised
qualification provided by a national government agency, the Council
maintained a list of appropriate driving qualifications which it
considered to be suitable for licensing purposes. Applicants for
new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire driver’s licences would
then be required to select from this list and pass a relevant
qualification as part of the application process. Similarly, those
existing drivers required to take a qualification for enforcement
purposes could choose from the list.

It
was further suggested that the maintenance of such a list,
including the addition and removal of qualifications, be delegated
to the Public Health and Professional Services Manager and the Lead
Licensing Officer. This would allow the list to be updated faster
and help to ensure that in future, delays were kept to a minimum
should the qualifications available be altered.

Discussion took place regarding:

·The possibility of specifying a qualification that
met the required standard and asking agencies to provide testing
for that qualification;

·It was believed that DVSA instructors were being
used by new providers;

·Disappointment in the limited amount of notice given
by the DVSA;

·The possibility of using the Fire Service who were
running driver instructor training and could be in a position to
run tailor-made courses.

It
was RESOLVED that;

a)All applicants for a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire
driver licence be required to produce
evidence of successful completion of a driving qualification which
was included within a list of acceptable qualifications maintained
by the Council (replacing the previous requirement of the DVSA taxi
driver assessment).

To receive a report regarding re-adoption of
Part II of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act
1976.

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a
report * from the Director of Corporate Affairs and Business
Transformation regarding re-adoption of Part II of the Local
Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 within the District
of Mid Devon.

The Lead Licencing Officer
explained that the purpose of the report was to set out the final
stage of the legal process to confirm the re-adoption of the
provisions of Part II of the Local Government (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976 (‘the 1976 Act’) for the whole of
the Mid Devon administrative area. Part II of the 1976 Act
contained provisions relating to the licensing of Private Hire and
Hackney Carriage vehicles, drivers and operators.

Adopting the 1976 Act therefore
enables the Council’s taxi licensing function to operate
including the setting of fees and for carrying out its enforcement
duties.

The officer informed the
Committee that after the 1976 Act came into force, in May 1994
under the constitution in place at the time, the Environment and
Amenities (E&A) Committee resolved that the Council should
adopt Part II of the 1976 Act. Following compliance with the
statutory procedures this came into effect from 18 August
1994.

A routine service review of the
adoption of the Act completed during August 2016 evidenced the
resolution above, unfortunately during the intervening twenty-two
years the original press notices and the parish/town council
notices did not fully survive, therefore could not be
produced.

The outcome of the above review
was subsequently highlighted in the report of an audit of the
Licensing team by internal audit services also in August 2016. The
report recommendation E.2 had set out that the adoption of the Act
be re-evidenced and therefore that Regulatory Committee formally
(re)adopt the Act (to the extent it was
not already in force) as a high priority. A target date of no later
than 31 December 2016 had been fixed in order to allow for
statutory procedures to be followed. The audit outcomes were
reported and agreed at the meeting of the Audit Committee on 20
September 2016.

The officer explained that
since records could now be scanned/duplicated and held electronically there was
a significantly greater chance that the records of adoption would
be traceable in the future.

He further clarified that there
was no intention to change the existing position with respect to
Part II of the 1976 Act therefore all
policies, practices, conditions and delegations would continue
unchanged where applicable.

The officer confirmed that two
notices had been placed in local newspapers and all Town and Parish
Councils had been notified. All
statutory requirements had been complied with.

It was RESOLVED:

a)To the extent that they are not already in force the
provisions of Part II of Local Government (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976 Act, (other than section 45), are to apply to
the whole area of the Council on and after the appointed
day;

The
Committee had before it and NOTED a report * from
the Director of Corporate Affairs and Business Transformation
regarding changes to legislation (and proposed changes) affecting
Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licensing.

The
Lead Licencing Officer explained that the purpose of the report was
to inform the Committee of proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage
and Private Hire licensing process as a result of the Policing and
Crime Bill and the Immigration Act 2016.

The
officer informed the Committee that the new legislation would mean
officers checking the immigration status to work in this country
for both new applicants and current licence holders. Officers had undertaken Home Office training and
were having to re-send some application forms that had already been
sent out due to changes in information required. Officers would
need to sit down with applicants and those renewing licences to
check documents such as passports, which in the short term would
generate a lot of additional work. Some
authorities who had already converted to online applications were
having to revert back to face to face work.

The
Lead Licencing Officer informed Members that it was important to
learn lessons from what had taken place in Rotherham. He provided a
brief summary of what had been reported about Rotherham
Metropolitan Borough Council following investigations that had
revealed that over 1400 children had been sexually exploited
between 1997 and 2013.

Inspectors had found that Rotherham was behind the times as the
licensing service appeared to have few written policies and
attempts to draw them up were stymied by interested parties.
Inspectors found that the Council’s conditions relating to
vehicle, driver and operator licences had not changed since 1976,
bearing out this contention.

The
officer reminded Members that the Mid Devon District Council policy
had been reviewed earlier in the year and the document was
lengthened to include a number of appendices to ensure the majority
of policies and procedures were located in one place. The Policy regarding previous convictions had been
greatly expanded and also included ‘other relevant
information’, (not necessarily convictions) that would impact
on whether or not someone should be considered fit and proper. The
team were currently awaiting new guidance from the Department of
Transport and once this was available would once again review the
policy to ensure it reflected best practice, in as far as this is
possible.

The
officer informed Members that the licensing team were looking at
introducing training for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers
around the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. A
further report outlining the specifics of this training would be
brought to this committee in the first quarter of 2017 for
discussion and agreement.

Discussion took place regarding:

·Taxi drivers were in a position to see a lot that
was going on within the district such as a child being transported
in a distressed state and should be encouraged to report
this;

·The use of the DVLA database to ensure that driving
licences were valid.

To receive a report
regarding proposed consultation on the adoption of new model
conditions and guidance for dog boarding establishments.

Minutes:

The
Committee had before it a report * from the Director of Corporate
Affairs and Business Transformation providing Members with
information regarding consultation on the adoption of new model
conditions and guidance for dog boarding establishments

The
Lead Licencing Officer explained that the Authority was responsible
for licensing a number of dog boarding establishments and currently
had a set of model conditions in place. These conditions set out
the general expectations and requirements for premises and guided
officers in carrying out inspections.

The
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) had recently
issued new model conditions and guidance and this report sought
agreement to consult with the trade, a relevant authorised vet and
the general public on the adoption of these in 2017.

The
authority had granted licences to 8 premises that offered a
traditional dog boarding establishment to which the new model
conditions would apply.

The
current conditions in place, also produced by the CIEH, dated back
to 1995.

The
document was similar in concept to previous CIEH model conditions
that had been adopted by the authority and covered areas such as
the construction of the premises (from design to build), types of
material that should be used, kennel size, areas for exercise,
diets, interactions between dogs and general health and welfare
issues.

The
officer explained that at this point the Licencing Team wished to
consult with those that were licenced, a
vet duly authorised to undertake inspections under the Animal
Boarding Establishments Act 1963 as well as the public via our
website, to get views on the proposed conditions. It was hoped that
this would provide a better understanding of the implications of
the new conditions before deciding firstly, whether or not to adopt
or amend them and secondly, to establish a timeline for premises to
comply (if they were to be adopted).

He
informed the Committee that by consulting in early 2017 a clear
agreement could be in place before animal boarding licences were
required to be renewed as all licences expired at the end of the
calendar year as a result of the legislation.

Discussion took place regarding:

·Dog day crèches and the increase in their
popularity;

·Less traditional facilities that allowed dogs to mix
rather than being contained within a kennel;

·An action plan that would be put in place to allow
establishments time to reach the required standards;

·Establishments within Mid Devon that were not
licenced and education that was required regarding this;

·The requirement to check both premises and licence
holder;

·The frequency of inspections.

·There were no licences for day crèche
facilities and this was something that Devon Authorities were
working together to look into;

·The level of fees and the need for them to be cost
neutral.

It
was RESOLVED that;

a)The Licensing team consult the existing licensed
trade; a relevant authorised Vet and the general public (via the
Council’s website) on the new ‘Model Licence Conditions
and Guidance for Dog Boarding Establishments 2016’ for a
period of 12 weeks from ...
view the full minutes text for item 16.